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Pregnant inmate forced to deliver baby on jail cell floor

A Detroit-area sheriff has defended his staff over their over their controversial action that allegedly forced an eight-month pregnant inmate to give birth to a baby on a jail cell floor.

Jessica Preston was serving a 14-day sentence last year when she called for help on a morning and told the deputies that she was in labor and wanted medical help. But, the deputies allegedly didn’t believe her. She was sent back to her cell thrice before she finally delivered a baby on the jail’s floor.

A video captured by a surveillance camera showed Preston being sent back to her cell after she told the deputies that she was in labor. But, Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham insisted that he is confident that his staff acted accordingly.

Defending his staff, Wickersham said, “They were on the phone with the doctor. The information at that time, the baby started to come, they took her off the cot, which is close to the wall, put her on the floor on a mattress and the baby was delivered.”

Preston had been jailed by Judge Suzanne Faunce for driving on a suspended license. Though it was Preston’s first offense, the judge sent her to the jail because she failed to pay a $10,000 cash bond.

Judge Suzanne refused to comment, but the court administrator said in a statement the judge looked not only at the woman’s current charge but also at her previous court history when determining the bond. In the past, Preston had a record of drug abuse and warrants for her failure to appear in court.

The court administrator also claimed that Judge Suzanne felt that it would be in the woman and her baby’s best interests to be locked up, and that the judge had never imagined that pregnant woman would not be taken to a hospital in case she went into labor behind the bars.